"The Circumcised Male Has Less Penis"

And other statements about the effects of circumcision
from the manuscript of Say No to Circumcision!,
by Thomas J. Ritter, MD, and George C. Denniston, MD,
(Hourglass Books, 1996). [The only book about circumcision
I'm aware of written by two medical doctors who state
in the book that they themselves are intact.]
Quoted with permission.

1. The protective cover of the glans, the prepuce, is
destroyed [by circumcision]. The penile appearance is
changed forever. The glans is no longer an internal
organ and there is no way of protecting it from
environmental objects that it was never meant to
contact, e.g. urine, feces, dry and wet diapers, and
clothing. The epithelium of the glans eventually
becomes dry, dull, leathery, brownish, keratinized,
taking on the character of skin, rather than mucous
membrane. A large portion of the glands producing
smegma are destroyed, thus depriving the glans of its
normal moistness and softness. The mechanism for
distributing this smegma over the glans -- the
prepuce -- is absent.

2. The recuperative heat mechanism -- the foreskin --
which maintains the glans at a fairly uniform body
temperature, is no longer present to hasten the
resolution of minor glans abrasions incurred
occasionally in sexual dalliance. In the penis with a
prepuce, if any uncomfortable fissures or abrasions
occur on the glans, the discomfort can be instantly
relieved by drawing the foreskin forward over the
glans. The increased heat from the covering prepuce
accelerates the healing of minor skin irritations.

Certain penile injuries have a greater potential
for seriousness in a penis unprotected by a foreskin. In
third degree burns, the glans and urethral meatus are
vulnerable, and any attempt at surgical correction of
the burn deformity produces a totally unacceptable
result. In the normal penis the foreskin would take the
thermal insult and the damaged foreskin could be
circumcised. The statistical probability of a severe
genital burn damaging the glans is much greater than
the probability of the individual eventually having
carcinoma of the penis.

3. Circumcision represents a subtraction. The
circumcised male has less penis. About a quarter of
the entire integumental covering of the penis is
removed and discarded. The prepuce in itself is very
sensitive. The circumcised male has fewer pleasurable
sensory units in his genitals.

4. The exposed urethral meatus is exposed to constant
abrasive trauma from soiled diapers, and after infancy,
to the external abrasion of clothing. The meatus often
becomes ulcerated and scarred, loses its normal
slit-like aperture, and, in about one-third of circumcised
children, becomes stenotic, theoretically or actually
causing varying degrees of urinary tract obstruction. A
meatotomy may be needed to enlarge the scarred
meatus.

5. The corona, the most sensitive portion of the entire
penis, is damaged especially because of its prominence
and dorsal location, where it is impossible to protect it
from clothing abrasion. Its surface, richly supplied with
neurovascular corpuscles and free nerve endings,
becomes keratinized and less sensitive.

6. The penis is scarred ... The patient sees the scar,
not only at the time of sexual play, but every time he
washes or urinates. There may be a jagged end to the
penis; there may be skin tags; the glans is lack-luster
and leathery; the penis may bow, turn up, or veer to
the side, whether this organ is flaccid or turgid.
Consciously or unconsciously, the male is reminded
that his normal penis has been surgically altered by
someone at a time when he had no control over the
matter. He may harbor anger and resentment over his
altered state, and experience discomforture at his
tarnished self-image of completeness and masculinity.
He may perceive his circumcision as child abuse.

7. Masturbation becomes more difficult and con-
trived ... Indirect stimulation of the glans is
practically impossible after circumcision; instead the
glans must be touched and stimulated directly.

8. The penile skin sheath is now relatively immobile
and the skin proximal to the glans is anchored to the
penile shaft. The penis now more nearly approaches
the structure of a dowel. The male's loose mobile
sheath has been destroyed. The psychic pleasure of
uncovering the glans either in masturbation or in
sexual play has been denied to him. The visual and
psychic pleasure has likewise been denied to his
paramour. Traction on the frenulum and its indirect
effects on the glans have been spoiled. The glans must
now be stimulated directly. With intravaginal
containment of the normal penis, the male's mobile
sheath is placed within the woman's vaginal sheath. It
is impossible to imagine any better mechanical
arrangement for non-abrasive stimulation of the male
and female genitalia than this slick "sheath within a
sheath." Circumcision destroys the one sheath within
the sheath.

Circumcised males often need additional
lubricant (other than that of the vagina) for
non-irritating intercourse. The sheath within a sheath
of the normal penis obviates such a need. In
estrogen-deprived women, atrophic vaginitis is an
important cause of dyspareunia [painful intercourse]. I
would hazard a guess, that dyspareunia is more
common in the woman whose husband is circumcised.

[O]ne would be foolish to discount the
circumcised male's immobile penile skin sheath as an
ancillary item contributing to vaginal, abrasive
discomfort.

9. The greatest and most tragic sequel of circumcision
is the effect that the altered penile function and
obtunded sensation have on the man-woman
relationship. The male can never reach his full
God-given potential of genital pleasure. The woman in
her turn can never be a witness and recipient of her
lover's full response. Therefore she is deprived and
cheated out of what she should rightfully share and
receive.

10. There are some nebulous sequelae of circumcision
about which one might speculate: The male with a
penis already moderately obtunded by circumcision may
be less apt to use a condom, which he feels may
further decrease his genital sensitivity. (Actually a
lubricated condom does not detract one bit from the
sensitivity of the normal, uncircumcised penis.) Also,
because most American males lack a facile prepuce,
the period of foreplay and dalliance may be
abbreviated in the rush to the intra-vaginal method of
penile stimulation. Both these factors conceivably could
be of significance in increasing the rate of venereal
disease, including AIDS, and unwanted, teenage
pregnancies.

Shortening the period of foreplay would
likewise be undesirable for most women.

An additional sequela which seems very
logical is the greater incidence of impotence in the
older man whose genitals have been rendered less
sensitive as a result of circumcision.